Leslie's Veggie Bean Soup

“Just Dump It In, All-Organic Veggie Soup"
A recipe made up by Leslie.
*This was made right after Christmas-time.

I simmered the carrots in olive oil to start, but to make me even huge-r, I forgot to discard the remaining oil from simmering and after preparing the ingredients, I just dumped everything in at once (minus salt) after that and did as much “straining” as I could. I even broke up some super-good bread to soak up the oil. It’s still really good, but on the oily-side for my preferences.

Here's the ingredients that I would never ever ever ever measure. Measuring sucks. But then again, I wouldn't have had the "oil problem" had I measured. Here goes:

-water (from the cooler, of course)
-olive oil, screw the extra virgin kind.
-carrots, I used about 4 medium to large ones, peeled.
-celery stalks, about 6 or 8 of them.
-potatoes, I peeled them this time. Normally I wouldn't but they were ugly.
-tomatoes, about a cup, chopped and I used a lot of the juices for broth.
-garlic, of course
-red beans
-brown lentils, about 2 cups cooked, yum
-barley, not very much, maybe about a half cup or so, eye'd out
-northern beans
-garbanzo beans, ugh I used way too many and they were the smallest guys I have ever seen.
-onion (in a cheesecloth because I only like the flavor of onion, not texture)
-fresh ground pepper, with the new pepper grinder I got Ray for xmas
-iodized sea salt, I threw this in after cooking hence me not liking to cook with salt or much salt
-ginger, I'm mad I didn't have any fresh, but to taste and good for the tum
-cayenne pepper, for heat!
-veggie pasta (organic durum wheat semolina, beets, spinach, carrots, annatto seeds), see the photo. This was an add-on just to make the soup full of more stuff, but the pastas got really soggy and I even just cooked them alone for 3 or 4 minutes, way under the regular cooking time.-I would have thrown in some zucchini or greens which was not there due to Ray convincing me otherwise at the store. I guess that'll be for another soup, but I would have really liked some floating greens in here.

I would have to say that this soup was a big success. It simmered on the stove for about 3 hours. It is really really tasty, colorful and Ray gave me the ultimate compliment by saying it looks like his Grandma's soup. But her's is made with dead chickens inside. Not mine. I would rate this soup a 9 not a 10 only because of the oil incident. Otherwise, it was tasty and healthy. Too bad it's not cold enough to really "need it". Aw shit, I'm gonna jinx myself, aren't I?!?!?

There's actually a shitload of beans and lentils in the soup, but they like the bottom of the pot and very hard to see. I'm glad I took these photos. The other stuff in there is the veggie pasta, which is what I use whenever I make pasta (rarely, usually once every three months or so).

And my special soup bowl (you will soon catch on that I have favorites and special everything)